


How To Beat Marvin At Chess

by sebs



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Gen, breakfast over pancakes and greek mythology, dialogue heavy cause i can't write anything but dialogue, whizzer and jason have a nice chat accompanied by some fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 06:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13475994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebs/pseuds/sebs
Summary: When Jason see's Whizzer struggling after an argument with Marvin, he decides to take matters into his own hands.





	How To Beat Marvin At Chess

**Author's Note:**

> yo! this is my first published falsettos fic, so please tell me if you like it (if you like) and/or request anything you'd like me to write and i will happily oblige. for shameless self promo, my tumblr blog is @halfmoongay. i hope you enjoy!

Instead of the usual sun pouring into his face, Jason woke up in a half dark haze, smiling. It had only been a week since Whizzer had officially moved into Marvin’s new apartment, but he already spent all of his free time trying to make sure Jason was at home. Whether that meant buying some of Jason’s favorite records or closing the heavy curtains so Jason could start the day without feeling attacked. Hell, it was more than Marvin ever did. Marvin spent the few days Jason was with him on the phone, or out with Whizzer, or in his bedroom filing documents. To Marvin, Jason was a reminder of the guilt Marvin faced when he left Trina for Whizzer. He was also a constant reminder that Marvin could never completely leave his old life behind. Jason knew this, and understood it. He just wished Marvin would suck it up once and a while.

And even with Whizzer as Jason’s kind almost step-dad, things were far from perfect. No matter how dark the lighting of his room was, it would never stop the incessant arguing coming from the kitchen. It was nonstop, constant. It happened nearly every day at Marvin’s, and Jason often heard it at his mother’s to, as Marvin visited Trina’s more frequently than was ever necessary. 

Jason buried his head under pillows and sang to himself.

Then, as the noise died down, he slowly made his way across the bedroom, opened the door and began listening to the conversation. Marvin yelled the loudest. Whizzer didn’t even really yell, he just spoke in a tone that cut faster than Marvin’s words could punch.

“I can’t fucking believe you did that,” Marvin said. “I give you my entire apartment and you disrespect my home completely.”

“Marvin, you don’t get to do that, we made an agreement when we first started dating, you knew what you were getting into.”

“I DIDN’T AGREE TO THIS.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, we didn’t have sex, ok? I just invited him up to the apartment, we had some drinks, and he left,” Whizzer said in a pained voice.

“You really think I would ever believe that? Coming from you?”

“You’re the one who cheated on your wife, at least we talked about this first, Marvin! Marvin…”

“If you ever do this again, you’re out of here.”

Jason heard the front door slam.

He slowly walked over to the kitchen, where he found Whizzer, sitting at the counter, with his head in his hands. Next to him was a bowl of gooey batter, and a stick of butter. Jason sat down next to him. 

“Hey, Whizzer,” he said in a sweet voice.

Whizzer looked up. “Oh, hey Jason,” Whizzer replied. “I was just going to make you pancakes.”

He grabbed the bowl next to him, and stood up, heading towards the oven. Like he was being programmed to make Jason pancakes. Jason didn’t mind. 

“Hey, you didn’t, hear any of that, did you?” Whizzer asked, looking stressed.

“That’s the thing, Whizzer, I did,” Jason said. “You guys don’t exactly try to hide it.”

“Hiding just makes things worse, right?” Whizzer responded.

Jason thought about it, and nodded in response.

“You know, sometimes it’s fun,” Whizzer continued, “fighting. Sometimes we’re not really mad, or we are, but all we really want is attention. And then sometimes...sometimes Marvin really gets mad. Either way, I can’t win.”

“So you want to win?” Jason asked.

Whizzer scoffed, spreading batter onto the frying pan. “Yes, honestly, I do.”

“You’ve come to the right person,” Jason said.

“No offense, kid, but you’re not even a teenager yet. I’m not sure I should be taking advice from you.”

“If you know my dad long enough, you’ll know everything in the world,” Jason advised. “That’s why you should stick around.”

Whizzer smiled, taking his hand off the frying pan and spatula and ruffling them through Jason’s curls. Jason faked disgust and hid a grin.

“You’re just saying that cause I’ll make you more pancakes,” Whizzer teased. 

He wasn’t too far from the truth. Jason didn’t exactly want Whizzer to stay with Marvin because he thought their fights held anything promising.

“So, do you want me to teach you how to instantaneously smite my father or not?” Jason said.

Whizzer couldn’t pass on the opportunity. He smirked, nodded and gestured for Jason to continue speaking. By the time the kid spat out his first five words, Whizzer was wondering if he’d practiced in advance.

“My dad is more than just a man, Whizzer,” Jason explained. “He’s a hydra. And you don’t know that yet, so you keep trying to cut off his head. Where his brains are. You following?”

Whizzer shrugged, not entirely sure if he should be taking this seriously.

“You see, Whizzer, what you keep trying to do is aim for the brains, but my dad can easily grow back whatever you cut off. In fact, he doubles it. Every excuse or reason you use is useless. Marvin will find his way out of it. Trust me. What you need to do is aim for the part that he can’t grow back. His heart.”

“What you’re saying is I should just stab him?” Whizzer picked up a knife from the knife rack sitting closely by. “With this? Because with the way things are going it’d take less consideration than one might think.”

That made Jason giggle. “I mean, you have to appeal to emotions. Marvin doesn’t understand emotions well enough to rebuttal. Instead of telling him about whatever agreement you had, start crying and explaining that things are hard at work. Or that you don’t know how to function when he’s not there. Or better, tell him you love him. You do love him, right?”

Silence.

“Never mind. Just, say things he’d never expect. That he can’t prepare for cause he doesn’t know how.”

“Damn, Jason,” Whizzer said, sliding a second pancake onto a plate and passing it over to his kind of stepson. “How do you learn on this?”

“Chess,” Jason answered, taking a bite of the pancake. “With my dad. A lot. You ever play?”

“Almost every week,” Whizzer responded, looking perhaps tired. “Maybe I’m getting better, but Marvin beats me every time. Says he’s never lost a game.”

“That’s a lie. He loses to me all the time.”

Whizzer scoffed. “Sorry for underestimating your talent, kid. Maybe I should play with you sometime.”

••

Time soon passed, and Marvin arrived from work just as Jason finished his homework at around six. Whizzer was in the living room, folding laundry while listening to the records he bought Jason, which he’d hate admitting that he loved.

The moment Jason heard the front door open, it scared him. Eventually Marvin and Whizzer were fighting again.

Except, in the morning which rather resembled dusk, there were no more arguments, instead Jason found Whizzer in the master bedroom, reading peacefully as Marvin slept beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
